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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26388565">another summer night without you (another summer night alone)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/youreanovelidea/pseuds/youreanovelidea'>youreanovelidea</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Umbrella Academy (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Klaus Hargreeves Deserves Better, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Protective Ben Hargreeves, Season 2 fucked over Klaus and Ben and I stand by that, See my Tumblr for a long ass rant on why, i would die for these two</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 09:29:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,409</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26388565</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/youreanovelidea/pseuds/youreanovelidea</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i> “I never asked if you were okay,” Ben says so quietly that he almost misses it.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>He finally lifts his head and looks up, brows furrowed. “What?” </i>
</p><p>(or, Klaus needs a hug and he gets one)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ben Hargreeves &amp; Klaus Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves/David "Dave" Katz</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>199</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>another summer night without you (another summer night alone)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They’re fighting again—something that started with sharp comments and low blows and got bigger and bigger until they were screaming at each other across Eliot’s apartment, their voices echoing throughout the living room.</p><p>“Why would you go there? How did you even know Dave would be at the diner? How stupid can you be?”</p><p>Klaus can feel the migraine pulsing behind his eyes as he presses his palms to his forehead. “Would you just stop, Ben? I don’t care anymore, okay? You win. Whatever. It’s done. It’s finished.”</p><p>“No! I’m tired of watching you make the same mistakes over and over again, Klaus! When will you ever just listen? You’re so stubborn it’s actually unbelievable.”</p><p>He shakes his head, wiping furiously at the wetness gathering in the corners of his eyes. “Shut up, Ben! Just shut up for once! You can’t even imagine what this feels like.”</p><p>“Oh, really?” Ben raises an eyebrow, mouth pressed together in a thin line. “It can’t be worse than being stuck with you for seventeen years.”</p><p>And just like that, Klaus can’t breathe.</p><p>His chest tightens, Ben’s words threatening to suffocate him as they take root in his lungs. Memories flash through his head—Dave smiling at him in a dim bar, gunshots lighting up the battlefield, calloused fingers pressing against his skin, bloodstained clothes and his own desperate screams.</p><p>
  <em>Please don’t leave me. You’re all I have, I’m begging you. Please, please, please.</em>
</p><p>He lets out a harsh laugh, not phased by the way Ben flinches away from the sound. “I know, Ben! I know that you’re dead. Everyone knows it because you never stop fucking talking about it. Boohoo, little Benny Boy died too young and never got to live a full life. Well, whoop-de-fucking-doo, Benji. Congratulations. Just because something shitty happened to you doesn’t mean you get a monopoly on all the pain in the world.”</p><p>Ben frowns. “Klaus—”</p><p>“No. You had your time to talk. And I’ve listened to you for a decade. It’s my turn.” His grin feels too sharp, like the edges will rip his skin apart if he’s not careful. He doesn’t care, if he’s being honest. He’s used to jagged things by now. “You’re lucky, you know that? Dying is the easy part. The living are the ones that have to find a way to make do with the giant hole where you used to be.”</p><p>
  <em>I think you’re beautiful, Dave. Stay with me forever?</em>
</p><p>“The only person that ever took me seriously is dead, Ben. He bled out in my arms and none of Dad’s training was enough to stop it. What good is having superpowers if I can’t even save the fucking love of my life? Do you know what it’s like to feel someone’s heart stop? To watch them take their last breath?”</p><p>Ben shakes his head silently.</p><p>Klaus scoffs. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. You know, I still hear the gunshots whenever I close my eyes. And sometimes I spend hours scrubbing at my hands in the shower because I can still feel his blood on my skin. And that’s not even the worst part. The worst goddamn part is that I’m already starting to forget the sound of his laugh.”</p><p>“I—”</p><p>“Don’t worry, Benny. It’s like you always say. I’ll get over it. It could be worse,” he says, spreading his arms wide and cocking his head to the side. “I could be dead, like you.”</p><p>Ben’s mouth opens and closes, a strangled sound leaving his throat. “That’s not—”</p><p>“Not what you meant?” he asks bitterly. “I think we both know it is.”</p><p>“Klaus, please—”</p><p>He lets out a sigh and shakes his head. “Just stop, Ben. I’m done, okay? No matter what I do, it doesn’t change anything. The world still blows up, Dave still dies, and I’m still the useless druggie I’ve always been.”</p><p>“You’re not useless!”</p><p>“Then why are you always acting like I’m still passed out in an alleyway with a bag of cocaine shoved in my pocket?!” Klaus tugs at his hair, closing his eyes in frustration. “I’m going for a walk. Don’t follow me.”</p><p>Ben reaches for him, fingers grasping at his brother’s jacket. “Wait—”</p><p>“Don’t. For once in your life, just don’t.”</p><p>It’s not until he’s standing alone outside the apartment that the tears finally start falling. He wraps his hand around Dave’s dog-tags and exhales at the feel of cold metal against his skin.</p><p>“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you,” he whispers, rubbing his thumb over the engraving.</p><p>
  <em>Dave—Dave, look at me. Stay with me. Stay with me, Dave.</em>
</p><p>Lightning cracks across the sky, illuminating the alleyway and making him flinch. He laughs darkly under his breath, unsurprised when it turns into a shuddering sob. His knees give out and he presses his forehead against the asphalt as rain starts pouring overhead.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Dave. I’m so sorry.”</p><p>He almost doesn’t hear the footsteps, too distracted by the way his lungs are tightening in his chest with the force of his sobs.</p><p>“Klaus?”</p><p>“I thought I told you to leave me alone, Ben,” he says softly, not bothering to look up.</p><p>Ben doesn’t say anything for a long moment.</p><p>“Please. I can’t deal with it right now,” Klaus pleads and he know he sounds desperate, but he doesn’t care because <em>Dave is going to die</em>.</p><p>“I never asked if you were okay,” Ben says so quietly that he almost misses it.</p><p>He finally lifts his head and looks up, brows furrowed. “What?”</p><p>“You disappeared for hours and when you came back, you were covered in blood. And then you screamed and screamed and didn’t stop. I’ve never heard you sound like that before.” Ben shoves his hands in his pockets and doesn’t meet Klaus’s eyes. “You’ve always seemed invincible. No matter what happened to you, you never broke. I guess I got used to you brushing off anything bad and moving on. I didn’t think anything could hurt you.”</p><p>Klaus frowns, but doesn’t interrupt.</p><p>“I spent so long following after you and watching you laugh off anything painful that I thought you were unbreakable. But you’re not,” Ben says and the smile he wears is bitter. “You’re human and I never should have forgotten that. I’m sorry, Klaus. I should have been there for you and I wasn’t. You deserved better.”</p><p>“You’re the second person that’s ever said that to me,” he whispers and neither of them miss the way he squeezes the dog-tags a little bit tighter.</p><p>Ben sits down beside him, close enough that their knees brush. “I’m sorry.”</p><p>He wipes at his eyes. “Don’t worry, Benny. I’m just being my usual dramatic self.”</p><p>“No,” Ben says with a sad, knowing look. “You’re not.”</p><p>He exhales heavily, pulling his knees to his chest and pressing his forehead against his jeans.“I thought I could change his mind.”</p><p>“Klaus…” his brother trails off, mouth pinched in an uncertain expression.</p><p>He laughs a little desperately. “Yeah, I know. Why the hell would I be able to convince him to do anything? He doesn’t remember me. I don’t even <em>exist</em> to him yet, Ben. And what if—what if we’ve already fucked up the timeline so much that our future doesn’t exist? What if he dies without knowing how much I loved him?”</p><p>Ben frowns and wraps cold fingers loosely around the other’s wrist. “He knows, Klaus. He knows.”</p><p>“Then why won’t he stay? Why didn’t he listen?” His chest is getting tight again, his vision blurring as he squeezes his eyes shut and tries to remember the feel of Dave’s palms sliding across his face that night in Vietnam.</p><p>He lets Ben pull him closer, lets the tears fall freely down his cheeks, lets himself give in and mourn. He can feel Ben’s arms tighten around him and he buries his face in the familiar shoulder.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Klaus,” Ben whispers into his hair.</p><p>“I know,” he says instead of <em>it’s okay </em>because out of all his siblings, Ben has always been the one most adept at picking apart his lies.</p><p>It’s not okay.</p><p>It’s not okay that they’re trapped in Texas decades before they should even exist. It’s not okay that another apocalypse is hanging over their shoulders. And it’s definitely not okay that on February 21st of 1968, David Katz is going to die from a bullet wound to the chest.</p><p>
  <em>You never come off that hill, Dave.</em>
</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Like I said in the notes, I have <i> feelings </i> about the second season of Umbrella Academy. Mainly complaints about how they handled Klaus and Ben. And also Diego honestly. Klaus is not token comic relief. He is a PTSD-ridden man that deserves someone to actually listen to him for once. And Ben is not a heartless consent-ignoring monster. They both deserved better. Their relationship in Season 1 was beautiful, for the most part. I thought for sure we would get to see that expanded on in S2. I was horribly wrong. </p><p>Not to mention, hello? Klaus's powers??? Where did they go? Deep sigh. </p><p>I hope ya'll enjoyed this fic :) &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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